http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapc...japan.protest/

Have the Chinese gone completely senile now ? Sure, the new Japanese historybooks leave a few things out here and there, but which country makes truly historically correct historybooks ? Absolutely noone, and the Chinese have no rights whatsoever to whine about anything, because there isn't a historybook in that whole land full of crybabies that reports about their war with India, their invasion of Vietnam, or more recently, the way they handled the protesting students on Tiananmen square.

But that argument is identical to one which says "because he broke the law it's ok for me to break the law".

I think they have a point - look at the international furore over a single holocaust denier for example - revising history to write out massacres is always heavily condemned by the whole world.

The fact that the Chinese are complaining is of course amusing and hypocritical, but it doesn't place the Japanese in the right over this.

The Japanese decision to allocate gas drilling rights in a long-disputed territory this week after decades of holding back tells me that the Japanese are deliberately being provocative.

'Bait the Chinese and see what happens'. I guess it could be an amusing game, but one that Japanese will come to regret in the long-run.

Why would the Japanese want to provoke the Chinese ? They don't have much of an army to defend themselves.

I'm not saying the Japanese are innocent in this, they are twisting the truth, reshaping it in a way it makes them look less bad. But if these Chinese protesters are so keen on the truth, then why don't they protest against those ancient relics they call their leaders ? If there's one government on this planet that's build on lies, it's the Chinese government. But apparently they feel comfortable being their own government's bitch.

Maybe they are even acting on behalf of the government, that wouldn't surprise me one bit.

[ 04-16-2005, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: johnny ]

Oh I quite agree. They gave it away slightly yesterday when they told protesters to not attend unofficial rallies! [img]smile.gif[/img]

And actually Japan has a seriously beefy military, despite popular perception. The CIA world factbook puts them 4th in the world going by expenditure. In 2003 China was at number 2 yet only spent $20bn more than Japan which doesn't seem that much when compared to the massive gap to the US at number 1. Plus it's widely believed that Japan could aquire nuclear weapons within 2 - 3 years with American assistance if the need ever arose.

So I think they're pretty secure really. What's more likely than the antagonising theory is that it's just cack-handed diplomacy. Perhaps they wanted to send a message of displeasure to the Chinese over the riots. Seems like not the best course of action though

<font color = lightgreen>I have actually been laughing at the Chinese protests over Japan. These two have as much negative history with each other as the Israelis and the Palestinians. Did China think anyone would feel sympathetically towards them? :rolleyes:

edit to add: I doubt it would take Japan quite that long to put together a working nuclear weapon.... [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img] </font>

[ 04-16-2005, 04:25 PM: Message edited by: Azred ]

What Japan do to their own textbook is their own business. What the hell China want to protest for? Hell, China has been making Japan look very very bad at their own chinese textbook. Things like nanjing massacre, 77 lougou bridge incident. All this to incite national hatred towards the Japanese. you should have seen how the chinese teacher specifically spend lots of time telling the chapters about Japanese occupation in China. And yet do you ever hear Japanese government protest about this? Not that I can remember.

What year are you living johnny? This is 2005 already. not the 70s or 60s. Japan have armies capable of defending themself from attacks.

Have you ever attended a chinese history class?

<font color = lightgreen>On the surface the protests are apparently about Japanese history books glossing over or revising events of the past. The real issue is that Japan might be offered a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, a privilege currently held only by the US, Russia, France, China, and England (I think the last one is England; I cannot check my sources right now). This, of course, makes the officials in Beijing a little upset, hence the protests.

The protests all for show.</font>

[ 04-16-2005, 11:33 PM: Message edited by: Azred ]

To gain a permanent seat you'll need the agreement of the 5 permanent council members. Yes? No ? Since China is one of them do you think Japan have a chance? I don't think so. Even if the other 4 agrees China would probably veto it.

Do i look Chinese to you ?

Do i look Chinese to you ? </font>[/QUOTE]Donno, never seen you in real life before.